Monday morning quarterbacking: Miami 44, NC State 41
NC State Wolfpack football missed a golden opportunity to upset No. 11 Miami, falling 44-41 at home on Friday night.
It’s time for a final look at the contest with some Monday morning quarterbacking:
Key Moment Of The Game
NC State led 41-37 and had Miami facing a third and seven at its own 46-yard line. The Pack dialed up an all-out blitz. It brought four extra defenders in addition to the three defensive linemen.
That left three defensive backs to defend three receivers in man coverage. Miami fifth-year senior quarterback D'Eriq King though read it quickly and fired off a pass to Miami's top receiver, senior Mike Harley, who was being covered by NC State freshman nickel Joshua Pierre-Louis.
Pierre-Louis was beaten on the play and could not make the tackle, and that left Harley free to race to the end zone and put Miami ahead 44-41 with 2:43 left.
On the next play, NC State redshirt junior quarterback Bailey Hockman's pass to senior Emeka Emezie bounced off the receiver's hand and was intercepted.
Three Things That Worked
1. Starting Hockman: The truth is a lot of Wolfpack fans wanted to see freshman Ben Finley get a chance, but Hockman proved the coaches' decision to go with him to be the right one. He finished the game completing 19 of 28 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns with that one interception.
2. Running the football in the first half: Removing a six-yard loss after a sack from the equation, NC State ran 20 times for 110 yards in the first half. In our pregame breakdown of the matchup on paper, we noted that NC State's running game could go either way against Miami's defense.
Sparked by junior running back Ricky Person Jr's 40-yard run, the Pack came out strong carrying the football.
3. Showing up ready to play: Despite being shorthanded — missing its starting quarterback, its second-leading tackler and a team captain on both offense and defense — NC State took the fight to Miami, impressing Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz in the process.
If NC State takes a similar approach to the games on the rest of the schedule, there should be better outcomes ahead.
Three Things That Didn't Work
1. Stopping King: There's a basic reason why Miami won this game. Its quarterback played at an All-American level. King completed 31 of 41 passes for 430 yards and five touchdowns with no picks and ran 15 times for 105 yards.
The simple math shows he accounted for 535 of Miami's 620 yards of total offense. That team total is the seventh most allowed by a Pack defense during a single game in school history.
2. Running the football in the second half: The script flipped with regards to the Pack's running attack after halftime. Not counting a sack that lost five yards, NC State ran 12 times for just 32 yards after the break.
There was a particular struggle in the fourth quarter, when NC State finished with negative-nine yards on four runs. That made the Pack ineffective in its attempts to string together some clock-eating drives with a lead.
3. First half discipline:.Similar to the Duke game, NC State had issues with penalties in the first half, committing six for 68 yards. That included a pair of personal fouls, one of which was a roughing the passer on an incomplete third-down pass. That flag sustained a drive that resulted in a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.
A pass interference on third down helped set up a Miami TD on the Hurricanes' next possession.
Position-By-Position Battles
NC State’s offensive line vs. Miami's defensive front
In the first half, NC State was winning this matchup against a talented Miami front. The Hurricanes battled back after halftime, however. The Hurricanes only finished with six tackles for loss and two sacks, but it shut down the running back in the second half, as noted above. Thus this ended up being a draw.
Miami's offensive line vs. NC State’s defensive front
NC State had five tackles for loss and three sacks, but King was also able to bail out his offensive line multiple times. Overall though, this was a win for Miami as the Hurricanes finished with 189 rushing yards and averaged 4.6 yards per run.
NC State’s wide receivers vs. Miami’s secondary
Five different wide receivers caught passes, and both Emezie and redshirt sophomore Devin Carter made some nice one-on-one catches against the Canes' secondary. The Pack wideouts won this battle.
Miami's wide receivers vs. NC State’s secondary
This, aided by the accurate passing from King, proved to be the most lopsided matchup of the game. NC State's young secondary had trouble with the speed of Miami's receivers. Harley, junior Dee Wiggins and junior Mark Pope combined to catch 21 passes for 327 yards (15.6 yards per reception) and four scores.
Quarterbacks
Hockman was really good. King was phenomenal.
Running backs
Slight edge goes to the NC State primary duo of Person and sophomore Zonovan Knight, who combined to rush 25 times for 124 yards and a score.
Tight ends/fullbacks
Both teams' tight ends were effective in the passing game. Wolfpack fifth-year senior Cary Angeline caught four passes for 54 yards and a touchdown. Miami junior Will Mallory had slightly more production with six receptions for 78 yards and a score himself.
For Angeline, he had his sixth receiving TD of the year, one off the school record for tight ends in a single season set by Jaylen Samuels.
Special teams
This was an easy win for NC State, who had a 100-plus yard kickoff return for a score from Knight and also had a 53-yard field goal from junior Christopher Dunn.
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